Garda Tourism 1999: Record Dutch Growth Amid Mixed European Trends

The 1999 marked, for Lake Garda, the return of the Dutch after a period that seemed to have shown some disinterest.

An increase of 10% in arrivals and 21% in overnight stays compared to 1998 are the data that, for 1999, led the Dutch to record, in percentage terms, the greatest leap forward among foreign tourists.

Persistent decline, however, compared to 1998, was observed among the French, who registered a 16% decrease in arrivals and a 19% decline in overnight stays.

Tourist Visitors and Movement Data

The most frequent visitors to Garda continued to be the Germans, representing over 57% of the foreign tourist flow and almost 42% of the total tourist movement, leaving behind, in terms of distance, Italian tourists who accounted for 27%.

The overall official data for Garda’s tourist flow, registered by the Aziende di Promozione Turistica di Brescia, della Riviera degli Olivi e del Garda Trentino and collectively processed by the Ufficio Studi della Comunità del Garda, recorded just under 3 million arrivals (2,936,653, up +3.57% compared to the previous year) and almost 16 million overnight stays (+5.64% compared to 1998).

1,845,068 opted for hotel accommodation, while 1,091,585 chose non-hotel facilities.

Distribution of Overnight Stays

In terms of overnight stays, the Brescia shore registered 5,127,219, Garda Trentino 2,456,627, and Rivière degli Olivi 8,189,135.

Hotel accommodation predominates on the Brescia side and in Garda Trentino, with a clear prevalence of non-hotel stays over the Veronese Riviera.

After Germans and Italians, among those who prefer Garda for their holidays, in percentage and by number of overnight stays, are the Dutch (7.34%), the British (6.76%), and Scandinavians (4.72%).

German overnight stays are more prevalent in the Veronese and Trentino than in the Brescia; Dutch stays are more common in Veronese and Brescia than in Trentino; British overnight stays are more frequent in Trentino and Brescia than in Veronese; and Italian stays are more prevalent on the Brescia side than in Veronese and Trentino.

Developments in the 2000 Tourist Season

Even the 2000 tourist season seems to have started under the best auspices, and the coming months will tell if the trends highlighted last year in tourist arrivals on Garda will be confirmed.